Widows of frozen pensioners appear to have been paid at a lower rate than
their male counterparts.

Hundreds of thousands of women abroad entitled to a British pension may have been the victims of sex discrimination, it has been revealed.

Around half a million British pensioners living abroad are believed to have been affected by the Government’s controversial "frozen pensions" policy, which means that their pensions are not updated annually in line with inflation.

But between 1994 and 2010, the Department of Work and Pensions also appears to have paid the widows of frozen pensioners at a lower rate than their male counterparts, frozen pension widowers.

The issue has come to light as a result of a recent case involving a French Canadian woman named Alma Yates, the widow of a British expat in Canada, Hugh Yates.

When Mr Yates died in 2002, his wife was designated a Category B female pension of £13.30 a week, in line with the frozen pension Mr Yates had received ever since he emigrated to Canada in 1976.

But she claimed that her pension would be payable at the much-higher rate of £75.50 a week if she were treated on a par with male Category B pensioners, who were instead paid at the current, inflation-linked UK rate in force at the time of their spouse’s death.

Ms Yates died in 2008, but her stepson, Frank Yates, carried on her legal fight. Last year, the case was decided in her favour by Judge Nicholas Paines, QC, of the Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeal Chamber.

He ordered the DWP to pay about £19,000 for the losses she had suffered, as a result of the department’s sexual discrimination against her.

Mr Frank Yates, who is on the staff of Canada’s legal advice organisation, Access Pro Bono, went on to seek information under Freedom of Information legislation about the number of widows who received a Category B frozen pension between 1994 and 2010. But the DWP said it was unable to provide the information due to the high costs involved.

His research however indicates that about 100,000 Category B female pensioners were subjected to the same sexual discrimination as his stepmother, and may also be entitled to compensation.

He said: “I believes that the DWP have a duty to inform each victim of this sex discrimination in order that they are able to make a reasoned decision whether or not to attempt to pursue compensation.”

A spokesman for the DWP told Telegraph Expat that because the relevant legislation was changed in 2010, prior to the finding in Mrs Yates's favour, the department’s legal liability is restricted to her case, and cannot be applied to other cases retrospectively.

Mr Frank Yates said, however, that the advice he has received from a leading London firm of human rights lawyers sugggested otherwise.

“The DWP did not appeal the decision in Alma’s case, and therefore it [may] stand as law,” he said.